our responsibility is to defend and protect the united states of america. and using the operations that we have, using the systems that we have, using the weapons that we have, is absolutely essential to our ability to defend americans. that's what counts. >> let's turn now to iran, our diplomats were in baghdad this week, trying to convince iran to stop its suspected nuclear weapons program. we saw iranian diplomat bragging to "new york times" about outnegotiating us. are they not just running out the clock? these negotiations once a month, are they enough? >> we begin with the fundamental premise here, the fundamental premise is, neither the united states or the international community is going to allow iran to develop a nuclear weapon. we'll do everything we can to prevent them from developing a nuclear weapon. we put very tough sanctions on them as a result of that and we are, you know, we are prepared for any contingency in that part of the world but our hope is that these matters can be revealed diplomatically. one of this things that we do at the def